Transcribed from press release attached to back of photo: "PENETRATES EARTH 16,000 FEET A surface approaching the hardness of the diamond is applied by a new atomic-hydrogen welding process to the teeth of a rock bit drill at the Hughes Tool Company plant in Houston, Texas, owned by Howard Hughes, noted aircraft designer-flyer. The first Hughes rock bit revolutionized oil drilling practices in this nation several decades ago, making possible recovery of oil beneath hard rock formations at great depths. Most recent models have penetrated the earth below 16,000 feet. Hughes drills are used in 50 foreign countries. NOTE: The atomic-hydrogen process differs from other arc-welding processes in that the arc is formed between two electrodes, rather than one electrode and the work." The patent on the atomic-hydrogen process was awarded October 29, 1929.

The black and white view of the Lockheed 14 aircraft at Floyd Bennett Field in New York. Typed onto a piece of paper attached to the image: "Scene at Floyd Bennett Airport this evening shortly before the big Lockheed special monoplane New York World's Fair 1939 took off on a transatlantic flight to Paris, carrying Howard Hughes an a crew of four."